NYC

Artist Statement

I began working on Complicit in 2012, three years before marriage equality. At the time, I was thinking about the deaths of those I loved who, near the end, seemed lost and confused at the failure of their bodies to stand the test of time. Now, my work addresses a great many new viewpoints, not least among them where and how an American capitalist society holds value. We have known for a long time where value is not held--the old, the queer, POC, women. Yet art’s capacity to hold and store value throughout history is unquestionable. The goal of my work has always been to give those who sit in front of my camera a sense of personal value, to fix an identity to a sticking point that brings gravitas and validity to the transient body.

My work exists at the nexus of the human body and photography’s ability to stop time, lending itself to the seriousness of historical documents. Today, marriage equality has been achieved, our bodies are still aging, the photographs remain.

Matthew Morrocco received a BA in Philosophy from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and an MFA from Columbia University. He is a 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts fellow. Recent exhibitions include Complicit at NYU’s Gallatin Gallery, and Medium of Desire at the Leslie Lohman Museum. His work has been shown internationally.